


Twilight

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-24
Updated: 2007-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1637597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      I'm so sorry for uploading this so late. But I do hope you liked it. I'm really not used to writing characters like Kain, so it was hard trying to get his voice right. Uhm, yeah Merry Christmas!<p>Written for Lassarina Aoibhell</p>
    </blockquote>





	Twilight

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for uploading this so late. But I do hope you liked it. I'm really not used to writing characters like Kain, so it was hard trying to get his voice right. Uhm, yeah Merry Christmas!
> 
> Written for Lassarina Aoibhell

 

 

What was he doing here?

Kain Highwind gazed out to the wide vista beneath the tower. He always went here when he wanted some time to think alone, and the top of the tower was virtually inaccessible except to someone with his skills as a dragoon or the favor of the wind. He rubbed his forehead, and the warm gentle breeze felt like a kiss. He went here more often than late at the end of the day. Night was approaching, though the oranges and red of sunset still stained the sky, and somehow Kain felt he was like the coming twilight, neither of the Light nor the Dark.

He never believed in blindly following orders from his superiors. He knew firsthand how stupidly following orders can have dire consequences, having seen whole cities and towns decimated under the will of a mad king, but here he was, doing - or at least trying to perform Golbez's every command. Seeing Cecil again made him think his actions all over again, and why he felt compelled to do as Golbez bid. He wanted to go back to Baron and fight against Golbez and his minions, but he was here, one of them. 

Why was he not with them? 

It was like he was being split in two. The old Kain who did what his ideals told him to do, who was friends with Cecil and followed him to the Valley of Mist was lost within the new one, and never the twain did they meet. The old Kain believed in honesty and justice, whereas the new one - Kain didn't know if he believed in anything anymore. Each time he focused on the whys and wherefores, trying to figure out what he believed now, he could hear a buzzing in his ears, and his head ached until he would give up, and the pain eased immediately. Something didn't want him to think and remember his ideals, and he wanted to know who. 

The twilight skies darkened from orange to the deep blue of the night. The breeze grew stronger now, but he chose to ignore it. He stepped forward, his toes skirting the stone edge of the tower's rooftop, and yet he did not fall. 

The Tower of Zot was his home now. Kain followed Golbez's orders, and any tenuous links of friendship with Cecil and Rosa were broken when he didn't stop Golbez from capturing Rosa. Even now Rosa was down there, a prisoner meant to trap Cecil for Golbez's ends. It would be so easy to break her out of here and bring her back to Cecil, and thus make amends, yet Kain couldn't. In that he was almost the same as the Four Elemental Lords, content in being a pawn in Golbez's hands. He wondered if he would soon become like them if he stayed with them much longer. 

He braced himself against the sudden strong blast of wind from behind, and even before he heard her laughter he knew she was there. Only one person could climb up the tower so effortlessly and she enjoyed bothering him. 

"Barbariccia."

In appearance she was the most human of the four Elemental Lords, though that last time Kain had a chance to speak with the others, Rubicante, Lord of the Flames, had reminded him of how he was before, honorable in the face of his enemies. Kain never found out why they were serving Golbez when they were strong on their own. He supposed if he asked, he'd never get an honest answer.

She sauntered to his side, the translucent robes her only concession to modesty. It was only when they were nearly toe to toe that the differences in their height became obvious. Barbariccia stood a head shorter, but her figure was womanly. 

She was beautiful. But Kain already knew her beauty hid her dangerous depths. She could be violent and cruel, and return from her missions to tease him about his silence. 

"You're always here." She walked closer to the edge, and she looked down and down to the land beneath. "Is it to scare away anyone who'd want to bother you, or because no one's going to invade your privacy here?"

"Would you be scared away?"

"No, so does that mean you want us to have some private time?" She caressed his arm, and he did not answer. Her lips quirked upwards and her hand stilled. "Won't you answer a lonely girl's question?"

"I was just thinking about a few things."

"And does it have something to do with Cecil and that pale-faced girl Lord Golbez brought home?"

"Her name's Rosa."

"I know but I don't need to call her by her name. She's merely a trap anyway. But why do you think of the past when we have now to do what we wanted?"

If he answered, would she stop and leave him alone then? 

Barbariccia laid a finger on his lips, stilling his excuses. "There's only now, so stop thinking of the past and think of what you're going to do tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight." Those same slim fingers pushed his helm upwards, and her lips formed a feral smile as she gazed up from beneath long lashes. She pinched his chin. "Don't dare to think of other women when you're with me, especially not that pitiful wench in the dungeons."

"Rosa's not - " 

She stepped back, annoyed. "Pah! She's whining there waiting for her precious White Knight to rescue her. She's a mere White Mage, and cannon fodder's the only thing they're good for. She shouldn't be here much longer anyway. If he doesn't come I'll get rid of her."

Kain felt a chill as he looked at her. Barbariccia reached up to lift his helm off his head. She laughed when she saw his face. "I scared you, didn't I? You don't want me to hurt your precious friend? Give me a kiss now and I'll keep my hands off her."

He closed his eyes as she stood on tiptoe. Their lips met, and Kain just let her take the lead. He ignored the little niggling thought that what was between them would never go anywhere, because he knew if he said it out loud Barbariccia would claw at him and kill him with no compunction.

"Good boy. I'll play nice, for now."

 


End file.
